Lantsha

Lantsha (Wyl.lany+dza) is a Tibetan script developed for writing the Sanskrit language. It was developed around the 11th century from the Nepalese Ranjana script, and retains many similarities. It is most often used for writing the Sanskrit titles of translated texts that have been brought to Tibet from India. It was also commonly used for writing Sanskrit mantras as well as seed syllables, and Tibetan practitioners were encouraged to visualise them in this script. This practice continued up until the time of Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo, who declared that it was not essential—that practitioners could just as well visualise mantras and seed syllables in the Tibetan uchen (Wyl. dbu can) script. Some texts were written entirely in the lantsha script, notably the Ārya Manjushrī Nāma Saṃgīti (Chanting the Names of Manjushri).